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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27110743">Whumptober 2020 No. 10</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapless_Tree/pseuds/Sapless_Tree'>Sapless_Tree</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>MacGyver Whumptober [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>MacGyver (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016) Whump, Blood Loss, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt Angus Macgyver (Macgyver 2016), Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, and theres some goons there too, but we don't care about them, gunshot wound, macgyver whump, matty is just there over comms tho, no. 10, sfw</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:47:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,930</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27110743</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapless_Tree/pseuds/Sapless_Tree</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whumptober no. 10 "They Look So Pretty When They Bleed"</p><p>Prompt: blood loss</p><p>“Riley, honey,” Jack said, keeping his tone as calm as he could, “could you hand me that first aid kit over there?” He motioned to the discarded kit that Mac had torn through earlier to get the tape. </p><p>Riley did as he said, face tight with concern. This wasn’t the first time Mac had been shot-- hell, it wasn’t even the first time Riley had helped a shot Mac out in the field. But it wasn’t something she would ever get used to, occupational hazard or not. She could only watch on as Jack helped Mac sit up slightly, and wince as the blond’s pain-filled moans hit her ears.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Dalton &amp; Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) &amp; Riley Davis, No Romantic Relationship(s), Riley Davis &amp; Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>MacGyver Whumptober [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999582</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Whumptober 2020 No. 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This prompt fought me every single word, so sorry if it reflects that. Usually it takes a bit, but I can get into the zone and get a decent flow goin, but there was no zone with this one. Idk why, didn't feel it as hard as the others perhaps? Either way, I hope you enjoy :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<em>‘Let’s split up,’</em> he said” Jack whined over comms, “<em>‘we can cover more ground that way’</em> he said,” Jack continued. “That’s the number one thing you're <em>not</em> supposed to do. Haven’t any of you seen a single horror movie?!” </p><p>Someone laughed over the line. </p><p>“Which one of you kids is laughin’ at me right now, huh?” </p><p>“Sorry, old man,” Mac said, stifling another laugh.</p><p>“Old?!” Jack squawked indignantly. Mac ignored him.</p><p>“We’re clearing the place more quickly aren’t we?” </p><p>“Mac’s right,” Riley cut in, “could’ve taken a lot longer if all three of us stuck together.” </p><p>“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Jack said. “I said it in Bermuda, and I’ll say it again now: the handsome jock always, <em>always</em> dies first in this type of thing.” </p><p>“I thought we agreed that you were the crazy uncle,” Riley teased.</p><p>“Yeah,” Jack said, a hint of fond griping in his voice “yeah, in our little family, sure, I can be the crazy uncle. But that isn’t stopping me from being a jock, being handsome, or being top-dog on the universe’s people-to-end-violently-and-horribly list.”</p><p>“The universe doesn’t play favorites, Jack,” Matty suddenly chimed in. How long had she been listening? “Now get focused on clearing that warehouse. The sooner you get those guns out of there, the sooner you can come home and we can all stop hearing about how handsome you think you are.”</p><p>The abandoned warehouse that the trio was searching was massive-- suspicious activity in the area had caught the Phoenix foundation’s attention, but the place had been left to local police. That is, until the warehouse had been found to contain a large quantity of a prototype gun that the United States military had been producing and testing. </p><p>On the record, the weapons didn’t even exist. </p><p>But someone had found out about them, replicated them, and was trying to get them into the hands of God knows who. Being abandoned, the Phoenix foundation was without a warehouse management team to have tracked manufacturing resources or shipments. There were no leads and no way of knowing who was selling the merchandise to whom. </p><p>Intel on the weapons could have been leaked from a number of sources, and it would take too long to go through every single possibility-- that was time they just didn’t have. So there the three were, on their way to prevent (or worst case, intercept) the sale.</p><p>“Looks like everything’s clear in the offices,” Riley reported.</p><p>“Receiving is clear,” Jack said. “Anyone got eyes on the weapons?”</p><p>“I just cleared inventory,” Mac said, “I’m headed to backstock now-- that’s where the police reported finding them.”</p><p>Mac walked carefully towards the backstock, slowing and staying close to the inventory shelves as he thought he heard talking. Flicking off his comms for a moment, he listened closer-- there were definitely voices, and they weren’t ones he recognized. He switched his comms back on and gingerly crept closer, getting low and staying quiet. </p><p>Once close enough to see, Mac’s eyes widened in realization: the sale was happening right now. </p><p>There were two men speaking; a scrawny, weaselly-looking man that had two large men at each of his sides, one of which was holding a briefcase-- the money, Mac assumed. The other man looked stronger, well-built, and held himself with confidence. He was merely accompanied by one man who looked as though he could be the man’s brother. None of them were visibly armed, but Mac knew better than to assume the only guns present were the ones in the boxes.</p><p>“Matty,” Mac whispered as loudly as he dared. “They’re here, and it looks like they’re just finishing up discussing a price.”</p><p>“Jack, Riley, get to the backstock where Mac is, <em>now</em>,” she ordered. “Mac you stay put until they get there. Those guns the U.S. military developed are autonomous-- they so much as <em>point</em> one at you, and you’re gone. Do you understand me?”</p><p>The weasel and strong man were shaking hands, and the brother grabbed a large box with about ten of the guns as one of the larger men handed the briefcase off to the weasel. </p><p>“There’s no time,” Mac said, “They're about to do the handoff-- we’ll lose them.” </p><p>“I don’t think you heard me, Mac,” Matty said, voice stern. “As soon as the safety’s off you’re dead. They don’t have to aim or even shoot before you’ll be finding a bullet in your chest. They fire as soon as they detect a heat signature anywhere close to resembling a person.”</p><p>Mac thought it over for a moment. “I’ll just have to make sure those guns can’t detect my heat signature then,” he said, making sure to keep quiet and not be heard by the bad guys. He was already looking around the shelves for the items he’d need-- said shelves were sparsely littered with odd junk and random items.</p><p>“I can hear the gears turning in that big brain of yours,” Jack said as he ran through the massive warehouse towards Mac, “but whatever you’re planning on doing-- don’t.”</p><p>Mac grabbed a first aid kit off the shelf as well as some disposable barbequing trays, a large sheet of cloth, and a small, stray square of glass. Quickly opening the kit, Mac pulled out the medical tape. And, as quietly as he could, he began to pull the trays apart.</p><p>“It’s all right, I have a plan,” Mac said as he worked. “It’s simple, really. If the gun can’t detect my heat signature, then it can’t shoot me, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, but you can’t just make yourself invisible to thermal imaging,” Riley said. She too was making her way towards Mac as quickly as she could. But with a place so large, it could be several minutes before either of them got to him.</p><p>“You’re right,” Mac said, “but I don’t have to. I just need the guns to <em>think</em> I’m invisible.” Mac spared another glance at the men, the weasel had opened the case and began counting out bills. </p><p>“You see, when a thermal imaging camera is pointed at a spot, it’s not taking any exact temperatures. What it’s actually doing is rendering an image of relative heat-- what shows up as hot is based on what’s around it,” Mac explained. He cut a hole into the sheet with his knife, using the medical tape to attach the small square of glass there in its place.</p><p>Mac then began to line the sheet with the destroyed foil trays, facing the shiny part outwards. “Thermal cameras are easily confused by what they see, that’s why humans usually have to interpret the images into something that’s useful or makes sense,” he continued. “Glass is almost completely opaque to some thermal cameras, but it’s not very practical to carry around a sheet of glass. Instead, I can use the relative heat around me, to make it seem like I’m just part of the background.” Once he’d lined the blanket thoroughly, he taped it all down. “A mylar blanket would be ideal for becoming 'invisible.'”</p><p>“But let me guess,” Jack said, “you don’t have one of those magic blankets?”</p><p>Mac nodded, more out of habit than anything, “that’s right. But aluminum foil is very reflective, and should have about the same effect.”</p><p>“<em>Should</em> or will?” Matty asked, not sounding thrilled with the plan.</p><p>Mac pulled the makeshift mylar blanket over his head, using the glass square to see out of and cutting out openings for his arms. “...should,” he answered. The blanket went down about mid-shin length, so Mac took the remaining foil and wrapped each exposed limb the best he could, securing it all with the medical tape.</p><p>The weasel seemed to have finished counting out the money and was handing it over to the strong-looking man. It was now or never.</p><p>Creeping up as quietly as he could, Mac only hesitated a moment before he lunged at the weasel, taking him out with just the tackle and a solid punch to the face. </p><p>The sudden commotion exploded into violence <em>fast</em>. The brother pulled out one of the prototype guns, screaming something about a set-up. The two that had been with the weasel were dead in seconds.</p><p>“Tell me those two shots weren’t you getting killed, blondie,” Matty said. Her voice was serious, but she couldn’t completely hide the concern lacing it.</p><p>“I’m fine,” he said, ducking a right hook from the strong man. </p><p>“Good,” she said, trying not to seem too relieved. “Riley, Jack get to him, <em>now</em>.” The two each voiced an affirmative, they’d be there as quickly as they could.</p><p>The brother took a few moments to realize it, but after pointing the gun at Mac several times and it not going off, he tossed it back into the box, favoring hand-to-hand much like the strong man. They went at it; Mac did his best, fighting mostly defensive to stall them while Jack and Riley came, but they were <em>big</em> guys-- bigger than they seemed when Mac was just observing from behind the inventory shelves.</p><p>A swift punch to the face caught right on the glass, shattering it. Mac shut his eyes before any of the broken glass could get in them, but that left him open to another hard hit from the side. It knocked the wind out of him. One of the two kicked Mac’s feet out from under him. Swiping a hand at his face to clear away the glass, Mac’s hand came back bloody. Not good.</p><p>Mac barely opened his eyes before he saw the handgun pointed at him. Not a prototype. His makeshift blanket wouldn't do a damn thing against a regular gun. Immediately he twisted away from the barrel, but he wasn’t fast enough. The bullet hit his side. </p><p>Pain blossomed in Mac’s abdomen and he cried out. The strong man was on him, but a well-placed kick to the face had him off again. </p><p>A gun cocked somewhere in front of him. </p><p>Looking up, Mac could see the brother already had the barrel pointing at his face. </p><p>Mac squeezed his eyes shut, and a deafening gunshot rang out. Strangely, Mac felt nothing but the already-present agony in his side. Slowly prying his eyes open, Mac not only found no bullet in his face, but the brother going dead-slack in front of him.</p><p>The man had been shot from behind.</p><p>“Jack!” Mac shouted. As soon as the brother had dropped the rest of the way to the ground, Jack was clear in Mac’s sightline.</p><p>“How’s that for timing?” Jack joked, slamming the butt of his gun against the strong man’s head when he’d moved to fight. The man went down hard. “You look ridiculous, man,” Jack added just as Riley was arriving. </p><p>Jack’s voice was coming in a far away, dreamy sort of way, filtering into Mac’s quickly dulling senses garbled and slow. Past the layer of foil and dark-colored blanket, neither Jack nor Riley could see the steady flow of blood streaming from Mac’s side.</p><p>But they <em>had</em> realized that he made no move to get up.</p><p>Jack crouched down next to his partner, finally noticing the way the blond held his side protectively and the quick, shallow breaths he was taking.</p><p>“Let’s get that off you, yeah? Let ol’ Jack take a look?” He said, pulling the blanket off of Mac, who groaned at the movement.</p><p>The most immediately visible injuries were along Mac’s face where the glass had broken. The glass had miraculously missed his eyes, but that didn’t keep the broken shards from cutting along the bridge of his nose and under his eyes. A piece was caught just above his eyebrow, sending a neat trail of blood down the left side of his face. And there was a smear of blood across his face from where Mac had tried to brush the glass away. Jack scanned Mac for other injuries, and his eyes fell on Mac’s side where the bullet hit him.</p><p>“Matty,” Jack said, all previous lightness to his voice was gone, “we need medevac. Mac’s been shot.”</p><p>“Copy that. I’ll have a team sent to your location. ETA ten minutes,” Matty replied.</p><p>“Riley, honey,” Jack said, keeping his tone as calm as he could, “could you hand me that first aid kit over there?” He motioned to the discarded kit that Mac had torn through earlier to get the tape. </p><p>Riley did as he said, face tight with concern. This wasn’t the first time Mac had been shot-- hell, it wasn’t even the first time Riley had helped a shot Mac out in the field. But it wasn’t something she would ever get used to, occupational hazard or not. She could only watch on as Jack helped Mac sit up slightly, and wince as the blond’s pain-filled moans hit her ears.</p><p>“Hey, hey, look at me, Mac,” Jack encouraged, voice going soft as he spoke to his partner. Mac’s eyes drifted over to Jack’s face and lazily settled there. “Good, I need you to stay awake for me, okay?” He said as he pulled the gauze out of the first aid kit. </p><p>“‘M awake…” Mac mumbled.</p><p>“Well let’s keep it that way, hm? Ri, can you come keep him upright?”</p><p>Riley nodded, immediately at Mac’s side. Truth be told, Jack probably didn’t need help keeping Mac sitting up. But Jack knew that if Riley was feeling any as panicked as he was, giving her something to do to feel useful would be good for calming her nerves. </p><p>With Riley holding Mac still, Jack pried Mac's hands off of his side, earning a grunt from him. The blond’s hands were slicked with red and his whole side was one bloody mess. Being as careful as he could, Jack tore Mac’s shirt open (pulling it open at the hole the bullet had made) to get a better look at the wound.</p><p>There was so much blood.</p><p>Jack’s hands quickly became covered in wet, sticky crimson as he dressed the wound with gauze. Every time Jack so much as brushed against the bullet hole, Mac groaned in pain and shifted away.</p><p>“Oh, <em>Mac</em>,” Jack tried to soothe his partner, but Mac hardly seemed aware of what was going on. He’d lost so much blood so quickly-- his eyes were glassy and unfocused as he grunted in pain and tried to move away from the source of it. Riley could just about cry at how weak Mac’s struggling was, and Jack felt about the same.</p><p>“Stop,” Mac moaned, squirming away. He was shaky and breathing fast. Agony tore through his side as Jack put pressure on the wound, white-hot pain letting a shout escape him.</p><p>“Sorry, brother,” Jack said, putting more pressure to staunch the bleeding, “almost done, it’s almost over.” Mac arched his back and let out a shout as soon as Jack had begun wrapping the dressing. “Riley keep him still,” Jack ordered.</p><p>It was an agonizingly slow few minutes that Riley restrained a writhing, groaning Mac and Jack carefully wrapped the injury tight. The ordeal left Mac breathless-- his gaze slid around, not really settling on anything as he took shallow, shaky breaths. </p><p>“Hey, bud, can you focus on me for a minute?” Jack asked. Riley had taken to running her fingers through his soft blond locks. With great effort, Mac forced his eyes to focus on Jack; his vision was fuzzy and distorted, black creeping in around the edges, but he dutifully kept his eyes open and as focused as they could be on his partner. “Good, listen Mac. I need you to tell me if you’re hurt anywhere else.” Jack spoke slowly, hoping to aid his friend in understanding his words.</p><p>Mac hummed, blinking slowly. “Kinda dizzy,” he said after a while, words beginning to slur. “Tired, too...”</p><p>“I know you are, hoss, but I need you to stay awake for me, okay?” Mac nodded, eyelids fluttering for a moment before he forced them to stay open. “Matty,” Jack said, “how are we looking on medevac?”</p><p>“Two minutes, Jack. Keep blondie talking.”</p><p>“You heard the boss lady,” Jack said, patting Mac’s cheek. He’d let his eyes slip closed again, and Jack made sure to rouse him again. “You gotta stay up.”</p><p>With bleary eyes, Mac met Jack’s eyes. “Mmh… ‘s really cold, Jack.”</p><p>It wasn’t cold. Not really, anyway. </p><p>Jack shrugged off his jacket and carefully wrapped Mac up in it, hating that he couldn’t do more for every pained moan and whimper that came out of the kid. Riley followed Jack’s lead, taking the flannel tied around her waist and draping it over Mac’s torso like a blanket. </p><p>“It’s all right, Mac, help will be here any second,” Riley said when Mac winced-- Jack had pulled the jacket tighter around him, and it hurt. Mac seemed to ponder her words for a moment as if unsure why they’d need help.</p><p>Taking as deep a breath as he could, Mac spoke. “You guys… okay?” He asked, head lolling back onto Riley’s shoulder, expression full of pain and confusion.</p><p>“Yeah, we’re okay,” Jack reassured, “we’re fine. And you’re gonna be fine too, ya hear me?”</p><p>Mac hummed again. “I hear you. ‘M fine…”</p><p>“Not quite, brother,” Jack said. A smile broke across his face as the sound of a helicopter drifted into the warehouse. Jack was pretty sure he heard Riley laugh with relief, but with so much focus on the bleeding blond in front of him, he couldn’t really be sure. “But soon, yeah. You’re gonna be just fine.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>okayokayokayyyyy soooo we need to talk about the freakin bullcrap in this because I'm sorry :) As per usual, I did a tiny bit of googling and a whole lot of guessing and making stuff up bc I do not have the brainpower to actually understand how anything works and I'm too lazy to do actual research.</p><p>Autonomous guns are noooot a thing (not in the way I'm presenting them anyways). I found that autonomous weapons do exist and function based on very sophisticated algorithms that I don't understand nor do I want to take the hours of time to do so. SOOO to make it easier I just used some of the core elements of existing autonomous weapons, sprinkled in a little infrared homing tech, magic-fictioned my way out of the bulky system that this thing would have to have to actually work, and pretended like it was okay.</p><p>The thing with the mylar blanket should be mostly true I think. I read that it would work in hiding your heat signature from an infrared camera due to its reflective insulation techniques. But I think it would only work for a short amount of time (that heat's gotta go somewhere eventually) and I couldn't really find much about that so ignoring thattt. Aluminum foil wouldn't work as good, but it still is pretty reflective. The thing about mylar foil is that mylar isn't metal at all, but the foil does have some aluminum in it, so I just substituted bc what are the odds there's just mylar foil lying around??? idk</p><p>It stood to reason that if the autonomous weapons I pulled out my bootyhole had some basis on the little bit of knowledge I have about infrared homing, that blocking thermal imaging would be the best way to go. Could've used an explosive distraction to generate a lot heat and throw off the relative heat of the warehouse to render the guns useless, but the smooth brain didn't want to think of how to do that. Besides, that would probably only work for like a few minutes before the heat was distributed evenly throughout the place bc I made warehouse biiiiig.</p><p>Sorry if my lack of proper research is glaringly obvious but I am big lazy and just wanna write the whump hahaaaa. Okay, thanks if you read this far, ig bc it's really not actually that important, I just like to let you guys know when I'm totally bsing you :0</p></blockquote></div></div>
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